BIRMINGHAM, England — Nigel Farage's Reform UK has promised to use its first 100 days in government to ditch a string of policy costs from energy bills, a move the party claims would save people £250 per year. The announcement will be made by Reform’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice in a speech at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham on Friday. The proposal would reduce costs for voters partly by scrapping levies already directly applied to household bills and partly by reducing costs for gas generators, savings which the party says will be passed on to consumers.
The cost of energy “represents a national crisis,” Tice said. A cap on energy costs, expressed as the average household's bill and set every quarter by the Ofgem regulator, is set to jump 4 percent next month. The hike is principally driven by the impact of the Middle East conflict on global gas markets.
In a statement, Reform said it will remove charges levied on gas generators, including through the U.K. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The ETS is designed to force down harmful greenhouse gas emissions by the most energy-intensive manufacturers.
The Labour government has made attempts to link emissions trading systems in London and Brussels central to ongoing “reset” talks between the U.K. and EU, arguing that will cut industrial costs and ease trade barriers. Both sides are targeting a deal at the next EU- U.K. summit, expected this fall. Tice will also pledge to scrap Carbon Price Support (CPS), a tax on power generators introduced by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
The Labour government under Keir Starmer had already pledged to remove CPS costs from bills from 2028. The party said removing those two levies would shave £90 per year from energy bills. Reform pledged to scrap other policy costs currently added to household bills, including the remainder of the Renewables Obligation scheme, used to fund legacy net-zero projects.
The majority of levies associated with the scheme were shifted into general taxation by former Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year. Removing that cost, as well as charges to pay for the so-called Feed-in Tariff, used to encourage take-up of renewables, and for the Warm Home Discount, which funds help with electricity costs for struggling households, would save another £80, the party said. Reform said it would also make permanent Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decision to scrap VAT on household electricity bills, a policy the government has forecast will cost £850 million over the next year.
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